Radclyffe - Crossroads

“She’d love that.” Annie started around the car, stopped. She walked back to Hollis and kissed her. “I love you so much.”

Hollis’s heart skittered in her chest. “I love you like crazy. Someday, I want…”

Annie searched Hollis’s face. She so rarely sounded uncertain. Now, her eyes were filled with questions. “What, sweetheart. What is it you want?”

“I want us—the three of us, you, me, and Callie—to be a family.”

“Oh,” Annie gasped. “You take my breath away.”

Hollis laughed, forgetting she said she wouldn’t touch. She leaned against the car and snugged Annie against her front. “Is that a yes?”

Annie pressed her face to Hollis’s neck, fighting tears. She’d never really believed that people cried out of happiness, but now she realized they did. “Yes. That is very definitely a yes.”

“Well then, let’s go get the kid so I can get working on that family thing.”

“Believe me,” Annie said, “you don’t have far to go.”

*

Mid-afternoon on race day, Callie jumped from foot to foot in front of Annie, peering up the long stretch of highway leading into Atlantic City that had been cordoned off for the riders. “Mommy, when will Hollis get here?”

“Soon, baby.” Annie shielded her eyes and searched in the same direction.

Beside her, Honor said, “The last announcement said the first riders were only two miles away. Any minute now.”

A wave of colored jerseys appeared around the bend, and the fastest cyclists streamed past them toward the finish line a block from the Atlantic shore. More riders appeared and the street filled up.

Jack stood on an ice chest, Honor steadying him with a hand on the back of his T-shirt. He pointed and shouted, “Arly! Arly!”

“She’ll be here soon, honey,” Honor said, readjusting his red Phillies cap.

“Mommy,” Callie said, “can I ride with Hollis and Arly and Quinn next year?”

Annie stroked Callie’s hair. “Maybe not next year, baby. This is a really long race. But there will be other ones you’ll be able to do soon.”

“You too?”

Annie laughed and glanced at Honor, who grinned and rolled her eyes. “We’ll see.”

Callie edged closer to Jack, her attention on the steady stream of riders passing a few feet away.

Honor said quietly, “Rumor has it you and Hollis are moving in together.”

“Let me guess—Linda?”

“I never reveal my sources. However, now that a certain flight nurse is sidelined until the baby comes next month, she’s taken a serious interest in all the hospital news.”

“Uh-huh. Like I said.” Annie smiled. “Callie and I are moving into Hollis’s at the end of the month. As soon as Hollis and I—well, Hollis realIy…I just hold tools and things—finish Callie’s room.”

“That’s great. She looks happy—you both do.”

“Oh, I am. She’s…amazing.” Annie blushed.

“Mmm-hmm.” Honor laughed. “Rumor also has it the high-risk OB clinic is opening next month with joint staffing from PMC and GWWC.”

“Also true. We’re just working out the schedule now.” Annie caught her breath as she recognized Hollis’s red jersey and dark blue shorts. Then she spotted Quinn and Arly. “Here they come.”

“They made it—they all look good too,” Honor said. “Come on, let’s meet them over by the finish line.”

Annie took Callie’s hand and followed Honor and Jack through the crowd. By the time they reached the finish line, Quinn, Arly, and Hollis had parked their bikes in the shade of a stand of pine trees and were pulling off their gloves and helmets. The breeze wafting in from the ocean ruffled Hollis’s dark hair and Annie’s throat tightened. Hers. That beautiful woman was hers.

Callie raced away. “Hollis!”

Hollis saw Callie and grinned. “Hey, Cal!”

“I saw you coming from way far away,” Callie cried, spreading her arms wide.

Hollis bent down, scooped her up, and spun around. “Did you? Where’s Mommy?”

“Right here.” Annie slipped her arm around Hollis’s waist and kissed her cheek. “Congratulations, baby. You looked awesome.”

“Hi.” Hollis slung Callie onto her hip and kissed Annie softly on the mouth. “You’re all I could see for the last hundred yards. Thanks for being here.”

Annie ran her fingers through Hollis’s hair. “I’ll always be here. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

“I love you,” Hollis said.

“I love you too.”

Callie tugged on Hollis’s jersey. “Can we get ice cream before we go home?”

Hollis raised an eyebrow at Annie. “What do you say?”

“Sounds good to me.” Heart full, Annie rested her head on Hollis’s shoulder. “Especially the part where we go home.”

About the Author

Radclyffe has written over forty romance and romantic intrigue novels, dozens of short stories, and, writing as L.L. Raand, has authored a paranormal romance series, The Midnight Hunters.

She is an eight-time Lambda Literary Award finalist in romance, mystery and erotica--winning in both romance ( Distant Shores, Silent Thunder ) and erotica ( Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments edited with Stacia Seaman and In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip written with Karin Kallmaker). A member of the Saints and Sinners Literary Hall of Fame, she is also a RWA/FF&P Prism award winner for Secrets in the Stone . Her title Firestorm is a 2012 Lories winner in the Mainstream Fiction category.

Acclaim for Radcly f fe’s Fiction

In 2012 RWA/FTHRW Lories award winner Firestorm “Radclyffe brings another hot lesbian romance for her readers.”— The Lesbrary

2010 RWA/FF&P Prism award winner Secrets in the Stone “is a strong, must read novel that will linger in the minds of readers long after the last page is turned.”— Just About Write

Foreword Review Book of the Year finalist and IPPY silver medalist Trauma Alert “is hard to put down and it will sizzle in the reader’s hands. The characters are hot, the sex scenes explicit and explosive, and the book is moved along by an interesting plot with well drawn secondary characters. The real star of this show is the attraction between the two characters, both of whom resist and then fall head over heels.”— Lambda Literary Reviews

Lambda Literary Finalist Best Lesbian Romance 2010 features “stories [that] are diverse in tone, style, and subject, making for more variety than in many, similar anthologies…well written, each containing a satisfying, surprising twist. Best Lesbian Romance series editor Radclyffe has assembled a respectable crop of 17 authors for this year’s offering.”— Curve Magazine

In Benjamin Franklin Award finalist Desire by Starlight “Radclyffe writes romance with such heart and her down-to-earth characters not only come to life but leap off the page until you feel like you know them. What Jenna and Gard feel for each other is not only a spark but an inferno and, as a reader, you will be washed away in this tumultuous romance until you can do nothing but succumb to it.”— Queer Magazine Online

2010 Prism award winner and ForeWord Review Book of the Year Award finalist Secrets in the Stone is “so powerfully [written] that the worlds of these three women shimmer between reality and dreams…A strong, must read novel that will linger in the minds of readers long after the last page is turned.”— Just About Write

Lambda Literary Award winner Stolen Moments “is a collection of steamy stories about women who just couldn’t wait. It’s sex when desire overrides reason, and it’s incredibly hot!”— On Our Backs